Why Play It When You Can Watch It Played? Sega President Acknowledges a Growing Fanbase That Has Never Played Their Games

Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi said in a recent interview that its fanbase is growing, with more people becoming fans without ever playing its games. This new trend, while seeming strange, is actually an expansion of shared moments that have been going on for decades. Think back to times when you were with family or friends, and there were always those who’d rather watch a game being played than play it themselves. Now, thanks to YouTube and a plethora of social media apps, there are a ton of ways to watch game streams, and this has birthed a new demographic of fans who’ve actually never played the games they are fans of.

Utsumi spoke with The Nikkei (as spotted by Automaton), where he acknowledged this new trend is prevalent for all of Sega’s IPs but focused on Like a Dragon as an example. He shared how its merchandising sales have been very successful: “Many of them have never actually played the games,” and instead become familiar with its characters and games via YouTube channels or content creators. Furthermore, he adds that its customers are 60- 70% women. The following is machine-translated via VGC.

“People watch our YouTube channel, or streams by popular YouTubers, and become fans of the Like a Dragon universe, its story and its characters. Among them are many people who have never actually played the game.”

– Shuji Utsumi, Sega President and COO

Utsumi adds that this “transmedia” phenomenon increases entry points for fans of various IPs and that “In some cases, their engagement is even higher than that of fans who actually play the game.”

It’s a strange world indeed where we can have fans of games who’ve never played them, but it’s neither wholly unexpected either. For example, we’ve seen the quantity of streaming services explode since the pandemic, and theater attendance has been shaky for decades. For every billion-dollar superhero movie, or occasional epic drama, there are months of films which do not break the $100 million mark and fade into oblivion. Meanwhile, over-the-air network shows have faced their own challenges due to the ever-expanding media content now available online or via mobile apps, so it stands to reason that there are audiences for gaming streaming content as well.

Join the discussion in The FPS Review Forums...